Moderate tanning, for individuals who can develop a tan, is the smartest way to maximize the potential benefits of sun exposure while minimizing the potential risks associated with either too much or too little sunlight. Sunburn prevention — not sun avoidance — is the best and most natural approach for everyone.

This position is founded on the following tenets:

1. The professional indoor tanning industry promotes and teaches what we refer to as The Golden Rule of Smart Tanning: Don’t ever sunburn.
2. The indoor tanning industry has been more effective at teaching sunburn prevention than those who promote complete sun avoidance. Non-tanners sunburn more often than people who tan indoors.
3. More than 30 million North Americans patronize indoor tanning facilities at some point during the year. Every year, millions of indoor tanners successfully develop “base tans” before embarking on sunny vacations — tans that, combined with the proper use of sunscreen outdoors, help them prevent sunburn.
4. Public debate on this issue has completely lost the perspective that there are known physiological and psychological benefits associated with sunlight, that there are many other potential benefits that need further research, that the risks are manageable for anyone who has the ability to develop a tan and that, for many people, the benefits of sun exposure outweigh the risks associated with overexposure.
5. A tan is the body’s natural protection against sunburn. Your skin is designed to tan as a natural body function, and the body is designed to repair sun damage as a natural process.
6. The professional indoor tanning salon industry is part of the solution in the ongoing battle against sunburn and in teaching people how to identify a proper and practical life-long skin care regimen.

For more information visit Smart Tan’s consumer web site, www.TanningTruth.com.